In-situ surface bismuth assembled amorphous BiOI nanoplatforms for enhancing NIR-triggered bacterial inactivation

A large number of antibiotics show inadequate antibacterial activity and lead to the emergence of resistant-drug bacteria. Thus, exploring new antibacterial agents with antibiotics-free is a crucial task for decreasing further environmental and health risks. In this work, an amorphous BiOI nanoparticle with in-situ nanoscale bismuth growth and oxygen vacancy construction (BiOI@Bi-V) is rationally designed to perform an high-performance antibacterial activity. Benefits from the reasonable heterojunction and amorphous type, BiOI@Bi-V with an enhanced heterojunction-assistant internal electric field can improves electron transfer to effectively promote the separation of carriers and holes, further heightening photocatalytic activity. Meanwhile, the satisfactory photothermal ability is also driven by tuning crystal structural integrity and surface Bi growth, the photothermal effect synergistically develops the catalytic activity through a rapid molecular thermal motion reaction. Ultimately, the prepared BiOI@Bi-V achieves satisfactory photo-active antibacterial capability by employing the synergistic advantages of photothermal and photocatalytic activity. This work provides a promising consultation for designing highly efficient hybrid NIR-driven bactericidal agents by using an amorphous and in-situ surface growth strategy of nanoparticles.